Cherie Blair steps down as a patron of Pact after figures showed the lion's share of its income was going to its employees

Mrs Blair’s name is no longer on the list of patrons on the charity’s website

By Tim Walker

6:30AM GMT 09 Jan 2012

Without any fanfare, Cherie Blair has stepped down as a patron of the charity Pact which is presided over by Lady Meyer, the wife of Sir Christopher Meyer, formerly Our Man in Washington.

Mrs Blair’s name is no longer on the list of patrons on the charity’s website and Catherine Meyer tells Mandrake: “There is no comment I wish to make about this”.

The former prime minister’s wife chose not to speak out in defence of Pact when Mandrake disclosed last year that all but £9,500 of the money received in donations by Pact, which stands for Parents & Abducted Children Together, was paid to Lady Meyer, who is the chief executive, and to one member of staff. The latest figures from the charity showed that Lady Meyer, who is also its president, and her employee were paid a total of £49,586. Lady Meyer received almost 70 per cent of that sum. Pact’s income from donations was £59,056 and it received a further £38,234 in grants.

The Meyers and the Blairs had enjoyed a close relationship, but it had become strained after the publication of DC Confidential, a memoir by Sir Christopher which was less than flatttering about Tony Blair’s government. Sir Christopher’s appearance at the Chilcot Inquiry, when he said that a year before the Iraq war Blair had “signed in blood” a deal with President Bush to overthrow Saddam Hussein — a charge that the former prime minister denied — led to a greater froideur.

“We are doing a huge amount of work for very little salary,” Lady Meyer said in response to my story last year. “I used to work in the City and earned much more.”

The former prime minister’s wife chose not to speak out in defence of Pact when Mandrake disclosed last year that all but £9,500 of the money received in donations by Pact, which stands for Parents & Abducted Children Together, was paid to Lady Meyer, who is the chief executive, and to one member of staff. The latest figures from the charity showed that Lady Meyer, who is also its president, and her employee were paid a total of £49,586. Lady Meyer received almost 70 per cent of that sum. Pact’s income from donations was £59,056 and it received a further £38,234 in grants.

Ah, yes. PACT. The Charity which the McCanns latched on to, when in fact it had nothing, but absolutely NOTHING to do with alleged abduction by alleged strangers.It purely exists to help a parent whose child has ben taken out of the jurisdiction by the other parent. NOTHING to do with the McCanns alleged case. Not similar, in any respect.

A Europe-wide alert system may have helped to find missing Madeleine McCann

By Sarah Womack Social Affairs Correspondent

6:01PM GMT 06 Mar 2008

A Europe-wide missing-child alert system would have "without doubt" saved Madeleine McCann, an expert on child abduction said.

All the latest on the Madeleine McCann investigation

Lady Catherine Meyer, who founded a charity to tackle child abduction, called for a single Europe-wide telephone number that parents could ring the moment their child went missing.

The system, similar to the Amber Alert in the United States, would flash the child’s details up on television and motorway signs.

All ports and airports across Europe would also be alerted.

Lady Meyer, wife of Sir Christopher Meyer, the former British ambassador to Washington, said: "I am without a doubt sure that if an Amber Alert was in place when Madeleine McCann went missing she would have been found, without a doubt."

She added that British police were "decades behind" America in terms of acting with speed and efficiency to find missing children.

"Police say child abduction doesn’t happen in Britain, they say 'there are just one or two highlighted cases’, but it does happen here," she said. "It is just not reported properly."

A spokesman for the McCanns said: "Kate and Gerry fully support any effort to increase co-ordination across Europe in the case where a child has gone missing.

"In America they have the Amber Alert system for sending children’s details across the country quickly.

"They welcome anything that can lead to greater co-ordination across Europe that can help to stop other children going missing in the future."

He added: "They know Catherine very well and have had discussion with her about this."

The European Commission launched a Europe-wide missing-child hotline number, 116000, in February last year, but so far only Belgium, Denmark, Greece and Portugal have adopted the scheme.

The Commission’s vice-president, Franco Frattini, said he was disappointed with the progress made at a national level.

"Only four member states showed goodwill until now."

Lady Meyer, founder of Parents and Abducted Children Together (Pact), said that since the US Amber Alert system was set up 1996, following the abduction and murder of nine-year-old Amber Hagerman, 393 missing children have been successfully recovered.

Lady Meyer also called for a single body to co-ordinate child abduction across the UK and Europe and for the European Union to take a tougher stance on children abducted abroad by members of their own family.

Lady Meyer’s sons, Alexander and Constantin are now adults.

But in an interiew in 2003 with the Daily Telegraph she said she had seen them for only 25 hours since they were abducted by her former husband Hans-Peter Volkmann nine years earlier.

He defied a court order by keeping them in Germany when they went there on holiday without their mother.

German courts repeatedly denied her access, although she received backing from courts in Britain and France and support from politicians in Europe and the US.

Her legal battle to get access to them cost her £200,000 - she had to sell her flat, lost her job and several times came close to suicide.

She wrote a book about her experience, entitled They Are My Children, Too: A Mother’s Struggle For Her Sons.

"The latest figures from the charity showed that Lady Meyer, who is also its president, and her employee were paid a total of £49,586. Lady Meyer received almost 70 per cent of that sum. Pact’s income from donations was £59,056 and it received a further £38,234 in grants

So lady Meyer and her employee paid themselves £49,586 out of £59,056 donated money then claimed grants of £38,234!!

That is beyond belief!! I am sick to death of certain charities and charity shops. They enjoy all the benefits that legitimate companies and shopkeepers cannot claim and then skim off as much money for themselves as they possibly can.

Its needs putting a stop to.

Edited to add the word certain as there a "few" charities that are legit.

@littlepixie wrote:"The latest figures from the charity showed that Lady Meyer, who is also its president, and her employee were paid a total of £49,586. Lady Meyer received almost 70 per cent of that sum. Pact’s income from donations was £59,056 and it received a further £38,234 in grants

So lady Meyer and her employee paid themselves £49,586 out of £59,056 donated money then claimed grants of £38,234!!

That is beyond belief!! I am sick to death of certain charities and charity shops. They enjoy all the benefits that legitimate companies and shopkeepers cannot claim and then skim off as much money for themselves as they possibly can.

Its needs putting a stop to.

Edited to add the word certain as there a "few" charities that are legit.

Feel sorry for those who donated thinking it was for good cause, only to be conned by the rich swine.

We have Cherie Blair or Booth to thank for the ridiculous human rights laws. I would think that the justice system is entitled to expel illegal immigrants who commit ANY crime, even if it is shoplifting. In the great majority of cases they do have countries to go to. Most are economic refugees in any case.As an example: Belgium found that a large proportion of the asylum seekers from Afghanistan who said they'd be executed if they were extradited to their country, were using the generous handouts to go on frequent holidays there, visiting friends and family.

The case of PACT and Booth's patronage is a good example of how power corrupts. Right from the start, the Blairs behaved like a cross between the Beckhams and royalty. Booth even launched a ship - for goodness sake, that's what one has royals for! But rather similar behaviour as seen by the McCanns who seemed to have acquired a superiority complex within days of being on the front page.

But you can take the man out of the semi, but never the semi out of the man. The Blairs gave a party at their ridiculous country estate and refused to have the guest come in their own cars. Instead they were bussed in and somewhat to their surprise - charged for the ride by the Blairs.

@littlepixie wrote:"The latest figures from the charity showed that Lady Meyer, who is also its president, and her employee were paid a total of £49,586. Lady Meyerreceived almost 70 per cent of that sum. Pact’s income from donations was £59,056 and it received a further £38,234 in grants

So lady Meyer and her employee paid themselves £49,586 out of £59,056 donated money then claimed grants of £38,234!!

That is beyond belief!! I am sick to death of certain charities and charity shops. They enjoy all the benefits that legitimate companies and shopkeepers cannot claim and then skim off as much money for themselves as they possibly can.

Its needs putting a stop to.

Edited to add the word certain as there a "few" charities that are legit.

Actually no.

Not beyond belief at all. Just read Private Eye's (yes I have slagged it off, but I've been reading it off and on since I was 16, many moons ago!) 'Rotten Boroughs' and similar.

These b***s come along and set up quangos and foundations and God knows what, they bung a few big names on the headed notepaper (who all get backhanders, trust me (Cherie, the gal who buys stuff on eBay, 2nd hand trinkets etc? No! Can't be!!! Can it???????)), they fleece the tax man, the charity commissions, the taxpayer, the DONATORS, the law - and they plunder EVERYTHING!!!

Last time I heard, of all the MILLIONS donated to the Maddie LIMITED (non-charity!!!) account, they diverted only 13 per cent to the likes of Halligen (blew 500,000 quid, in gaol), Metodo 3 (blew up to 600,000 quid, pending gaol sentences for 1 or 2 directors) - who were SUPPOSED to be actually looking for her.

Which they WERE NOT.

And WHY???? Just send a bloody letter with a first class stamp to Lisbon, AND THE CASE WILL BE RE-OPENED! INTERPOL, FBI, THE YARD, THE WORKS!!!

In my mind there is no doubt at all that the whole Maddie fund is a CON, a total MASONIC from the git-go SCAM!

Halligen is a criminal.

Metodo 3 employs criminals, the directors have been busted for illegal arms and phone tapping!

Metodo 3 specialise in MONEY LAUNDERING!!!

Come on folks, do you REALLY think these canny (that means as tight as an ant's chuff, no disrespect to Scots reading this!) Scots Directors at TM gave Halligen half a mil LARGE, in READIES, in his Tesco account, to play with???

I DON'T THINK SO! No, he had a few bob, and he squandered it. Where is THE REST I wonder? SWITZERLAND perhaps? I hear a cousin of Maggie Hodge was at the shebang, and high-tailed it out of Dodge back to Zurich, the day before the Faked Abduction took place... (correction. He arranged to leave one day earlier than booked on the 3rd and left the following day)

Hmmmmm....

Double-Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm...

Is Meyer related I wonder to the Hodges/nee Oppenheimers?

Can't be, cos if she was they did the dirty on her, apparently she was close to penury before launching her kiddie scheme!

Well they do say there is no honour amongst thieves.

SY need to put forensic accountants on all of Team McCann, their fraudulent LIMITED company, defrauding donators, the canny Directors who GAVE UP GOOD JOBS to join the troughing, all living high on the HOG - it will get very very ugly, of that I am 100pc sure!

THE WHOLE THINK STINKS!!!

87 per cent of MILLIONS goes to family and fellow troughers of the McCann disease.

Even the youngest one was paid 37,000 quid for knocking up a web site in his bedroom. A site that in the yellow pages would have cost 300 quid, max, to start with.

____________________"One good thing to come out of all this is that there is so much in the press, nobody knows what is true, and what isn't." - Gerry McCann: Police CATS (Case Administration and Tracking System) Number 19309 - NB: The 19309 number is still on the Police database, but all data within the file appears to have been ERASED...

@tigger wrote:We have Cherie Blair or Booth to thank for the ridiculous human rights laws. I would think that the justice system is entitled to expel illegal immigrants who commit ANY crime, even if it is shoplifting. In the great majority of cases they do have countries to go to. Most are economic refugees in any case.As an example: Belgium found that a large proportion of the asylum seekers from Afghanistan who said they'd be executed if they were extradited to their country, were using the generous handouts to go on frequent holidays there, visiting friends and family.

The case of PACT and Booth's patronage is a good example of how power corrupts. Right from the start, the Blairs behaved like a cross between the Beckhams and royalty. Booth even launched a ship - for goodness sake, that's what one has royals for! But rather similar behaviour as seen by the McCanns who seemed to have acquired a superiority complex within days of being on the front page.

But you can take the man out of the semi, but never the semi out of the man. The Blairs gave a party at their ridiculous country estate and refused to have the guest come in their own cars. Instead they were bussed in and somewhat to their surprise - charged for the ride by the Blairs.

Hi tigger!

Couldn't agree more, the Blair's were PUT IN PLACE to carry out an agenda.

Just look at the state of my beloved England now, it is trashed. That was the agenda all along - open the floodgates, crush all industry, crush coal/fishing, brainwash our kids etc.

But you know all this.

I'm off to bed, laterz!

A

____________________"One good thing to come out of all this is that there is so much in the press, nobody knows what is true, and what isn't." - Gerry McCann: Police CATS (Case Administration and Tracking System) Number 19309 - NB: The 19309 number is still on the Police database, but all data within the file appears to have been ERASED...

The Blairs gave a party at their ridiculous country estate and refused to have the guest come in their own cars. Instead they were bussed in and somewhat to their surprise - charged for the ride by the Blairs.

____________________"One good thing to come out of all this is that there is so much in the press, nobody knows what is true, and what isn't." - Gerry McCann: Police CATS (Case Administration and Tracking System) Number 19309 - NB: The 19309 number is still on the Police database, but all data within the file appears to have been ERASED...

Ask yourself, if 393 children have been saved then that's at least a result (if it can be proven). I can think of a few million pounds donated to a 'fund' that has produced absolutely zero and lined quite a few pockets.

@aquila wrote:Ask yourself, if 393 children have been saved then that's at least a result (if it can be proven). ...

But that is just the point The children were not SAVED. They were taken from one loving parent and handed back to the other one.Is there a single case in which any one of these children was shown to be in danger ?

@littlepixie wrote:"The latest figures from the charity showed that Lady Meyer, who is also its president, and her employee were paid a total of £49,586. Lady Meyer received almost 70 per cent of that sum. Pact’s income from donations was £59,056 and it received a further £38,234 in grants

So lady Meyer and her employee paid themselves £49,586 out of £59,056 donated money then claimed grants of £38,234!!

Eddie and Keela alerted to items and places concerned with the McCanns - and importantly to no other items or places.

According to Eddie and Keela, the body of Madeleine McCann lay lifeless behind the sofa in Apartment 5a, clinging to the only thing from which she could derive any comfort; a soft toy called 'Cuddle cat'.

Former Met Police Chief Lord Stevens:"There was no hard evidence because of the sheer inadequacy of the Portuguese investigation. There's absolutely no chance the parents of Madeleine McCann would be charged with her murder in this country. I've been a detective at the most senior level for 30 years and have never seen such a witch-hunt, or one based on such flimsy evidence."

Ch Insp Tavares de Almeida: "Kate and Gerald McCann are involved in the concealment of the cadaver of their daughter Madeleine McCann. From what has been established up to now, everything indicates that the McCann couple, in self-defence, doesn't want to deliver the cadaver immediately and voluntarily."

Kate's book 'madeleine', Page 219: "Did they really believe that a dog could smell the 'odour of death' three months later from a body that had been so swiftly removed?"

After forensic analysis of the 'Last Photo' there is little doubt now that the pool photo CANNOT POSSIBLY have been taken on the Thursday 3rd May, but most likely on the Sunday 29th April. So, where was Madeleine at lunchtime on Thursday? We don't know, but we can begin to "purport theories" based both on strong evidence, and lack of evidence.

Dr Gonçalo Amaral, retired PJ Coordinator: "The English can always present the conclusions to which they themselves arrived in 2007. Because they know, they have the evidence of what happened, they don't need to investigate anything. When MI5 opens their files, then we will know the truth."

Ex-Met DCI Colin Sutton: "The most likely scenario is that Madeleine was stolen to order by slave traders and smuggled into Africa for a rich family who wanted a white child."

Ex-Met DCI Andy Redwood had a "revelation moment" on BBC1's Crimewatch on 14th October 2013 when he announced that Operation Grange had eliminated the Tanner sighting - which opened up the 'window' of opportunity', in accordance with their remit, to allow the staged abduction to happen.

Tracey Kandohla: "A McCann pal told The Sun Online: "Some of the savings have been siphoned off from the Find Maddie Fund into a fixed asset account, which financial experts have advised them to do. It can be used for purchases like buying a house or building equipment."

Gerry McCann called for an example to be made of 'trolls'. SKY reporter Martin Brunt doorstepped Brenda Leyland on 2 October 2014 after a 'Dossier' was handed in to Police by McCann supporters. She was then found dead in a Leicester hotel room the next day. Brenda paid the price.